In recent years, the telecommunication industry has seen the development and deployment of the first commercial Nongeostationary Orbit (NGSO) satellite constellations to respond to the rapidly expanding demand for global communication services. Such satellite constellations can be viewed as a global network of nodes having the potential to deliver a variety of information and services to locations virtually anywhere in the world at a much lower cost than would be possible solely using prior art wireless and/or wire-based terrestrial networks.
Typically, a terrestrial communication network is managed by a central network operator and possibly a number of distributors. Distributors act as service providers for the system and wholesale their service capacity to retailers or sell capacity directly to customers. Such terrestrial communication networks generally have a defined coverage region which is not global in nature, and central network operators generally provide capacity to customers in one or more specified geographic regions.
It would be desirable to structure satellite communication systems to enable distributors and/or service providers to manage quasi-independent global virtual networks providing services that can be differentiated from services of other distributors and/or service providers. Desirably, such independent virtual networks would be based on a single, physical core satellite network. An effective way to manage services provided both by distributors and through external sources through such a physical core satellite network has not yet been developed.
Thus, what is needed is a communication system and method to enable service management in a global network environment including independent virtual networks. What is also needed is a communication system and method for allowing independent virtual network operators to incorporate existing or new services into their equipment for operation.
What is also needed is a communication system and method for allowing independent virtual network operators or customer equipment operators (i.e. end users) to incorporate external value added services into their equipment for operation.